Whenever Radiohead makes any sort of announcement, it is a big deal. The news the British band announced Monday is no different. The band announced its plans for one of the gutsiest moves in the music industry ever. The band will be releasing their seventh studio album In Rainbows on October 10th. The album will only be available for download on the bands website. According to a website made for the release of the album, the only required fee of the album is a credit card processing fee. When I first heard of this news, I immediately pre-ordered the album. Upon checking out, there was a blank next to the album price, with a linked question mark. Upon clicking on the link, I was brought to a page that simply read “It is up to You”, with another linked question mark. I clicked the link again, and was brought to a page that said “No really, It is up to You”. In other words, Radiohead will be releasing their new album ABSOLUTELY FREE!
With the release of their previous album Hail to the Theif, Radiohead completed their contract with EMI-Capital records. The band is releasing In Rainbows entirely on their own, with no label or company. I believe that this is a very good move for the band, and releasing the album for free is a concept that will end up helping the music industry as a whole. Having one of the largest international fan bases, Radiohead will without a doubt turn a profit despite having fans choose how much they want to pay for the album. Almost every track on the upcoming album has been performed live by the band, and can be found on YouTube or multiple bittorrent sites. The success of In Rainbows will prove to the RIAA and record labels that digital downloading is not hurting albums sales. While releasing a new album for free is nothing new, it has certainly never been done at this caliber. Most new and upcoming bands release their albums for free simply to gain exposure, and to get their name into the market. Radiohead, however, is one of the most popular international bands of today. Radiohead is simply paving the way for the rest of the music industry.
2 comments:
I knew they were making a new album, but did not know it was coming out in 6 days. I'll be sure to download it that day. I think it's great too that some artists are willing to release their music for free, because in the end everyone takes it for free anyways. I know the Smashing Pumpkins released their final CD online(that's no longer true since their back together and released one in stores.) I hope more major artists continue to do this.
Don't know if you saw this, apparently there's so confusion surrounding a potential pay-CD release. Wonder if they'll cancel the download once the physical CD is in stores?
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